Prince William and Duchess Kate say baby No. 3 is due in April
LONDON — Prince William and Duchess Kate have announced that their third child will be due in April.
The royal couple had already revealed that they were having a child, but didn't previously say which month the child is due. The brief statement released Tuesday by their Kensington Palace office offered no further details.
The former Kate Middleton had announced she was pregnant after missing a royal engagement in September. As with her other two pregnancies, she is suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum, or acute morning sickness.
She has since appeared in other events, including one Monday in which she danced with a person dressed as the beloved British children's book character, Paddington Bear.
William and Kate, who are both 35, already have two children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. Prince George, now four-years-old, started school in September at Thomas's Battersea in south London. His sister, Princess Charlotte, turned two in May.
The new baby will bump its Uncle Harry -- Prince Harry to the rest of the world -- out of the top-five in the royal line of succession. Once Prince William and Kate have their son or daughter, the line-up of presumptive British monarchs will take the following order:
- Prince Charles of Wales
- Prince William, Duke of Cambridge
- Prince George of Cambridge
- Princess Charlotte of Cambridge
- William and Kate's third child
- Prince Henry (Harry) of Wales
- Prince Andrew, Duke of York
- Princess Beatrice of York
- Princess Eugenie of York
- Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
The royals have said from the time of their engagement that they wanted to have a family -- the only question was how many children they wished for. Royal watchers recorded every aside for clues as to what the plans might be.
When asked on a royal tour in Singapore in 2012 about how many children he wanted, William said he was "thinking about having two."
More recently, during a royal tour of Poland, Kate joked about a third child when given a cuddly toy designed to soothe tiny babies.
Kate thanked the well-wisher for the present and turned to William. "We will just have to have more babies," she said laughing.
Kate is the eldest of three siblings, and reportedly had a very happy childhood. William has a younger brother, Prince Harry.
The royal couple can also be seen as following in the footsteps of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, who have four children.